Old Age Clause House: Get Advice from Lawyers

Questioner

We have received the provisional purchase contract for a 1930s house. There is an age clause in it. I think it is usual with an old house? Although I feel that this is very broad. And it is not really clear that it concerns defects as a result of age. (But that could be me) I have not signed the purchase contract yet. Is the following clause usual?? Or would you also like it to be different? Article 21 Old age clause Buyer declares to be aware of the age of this house and the outbuildings. The requirements that may be set for the construction quality are considerably lower than for new houses. Unless the seller has guaranteed the quality, he does not guarantee, among other things, the quality of the floors, the roof, the pipes for electricity, water and gas, the sewerage, any absence of vermin or fungi (such as woodworm, longhorn beetle, fungus, etc.) and any absence of penetrating and/or rising damp. Constructional quality defects are deemed not to hinder the residential use described in article 6.3 and with effect from the date of transfer of ownership, the buyer indemnifies the seller against known and unknown, visible and invisible defects.

Lawyer

Such clauses are always a point of negotiation. The fact that the seller also wants to be indemnified for KNOWN defects does indeed go too far and also conflicts with the duty of disclosure that he has with regard to these defects insofar as they are not clearly visible. I would in any case request that this be adjusted. In addition, it is always the question whether certain components should not be exempted from the age clause (think for example of a recently installed kitchen or central heating boiler). I advise to have a building inspection carried out and to include a suspensive condition in the purchase agreement so that you can cancel the purchase if the inspection shows that the necessary repairs exceed a certain amount.

Questioner

Thank you very much for your quick response! This is useful to me. Would you only remove the part of the known defects or have the entire text adjusted? For example, would you prefer this text? 'The buyer is aware that the house is approximately 81 years old, which means that the requirements that may be set for the construction quality are (considerably) lower than for new houses. In deviation from article 6.3 of this purchase agreement, defects (that hinder normal use) that are the result of the age of the house are at the buyer's risk. This is without prejudice to the seller's obligation to inform the buyer of defects which he should know are important to the buyer and which he knows or suspects the buyer is not aware of.” Tomorrow we also have a building inspection. We have included that we want to cancel the purchase if it turns out that the costs for immediate repair and overdue maintenance amount to more than 3000.

Lawyer

The text you provided is considerably buyer-friendly. It would be nice if this text could be included. If that is not possible, then at least the part of the known defects should be removed from the original text.

Questioner

Thank you very much! You have helped me enormously in this subject which is unknown to me.